The Messenger on the Monument
by brainysmrf
Summary: Casefic. Starts at the end of The Girl in the Fridge - with the body they find at the top of the Washington Monument.
1. Chapter 1

As Brennan performed a cursory exam of the remains, she noticed a piece of paper with handwriting on it, she tugged it gently and it came free. Handing it to Booth, she returned to her exam but listened as he read the note out loud.

"Washington was the father of our nation but this man had no right to creation

While the wicked never rest, we hear tell that Dr. Brennan is the best

Sax and Violins have more messages to give but is this something through which she can live

Instead of stopping on a dime, the next will end on a penny. Find him soon or he'll be the second of many."

"On a penny?" Brennan asked as she looked out over the city. "Lincoln..."she said to Booth just above a whisper.

He nodded and reached for his cell, " This is 22705, I need a team to canvass the Lincoln Memorial and let me know that they find."

Once they had finished at the monument, Booth and Brennan headed back to the lab.

Weary of waiting for the call to come from the team at the Lincoln Memorial. "Maybe you spending so much time out in the field isn't the best thing." Booth thought out loud.

"Why because one poorly-educated psycho singled me out?"

"Two psychos." He pointed out. "How do you know they're poorly educated?"

"That poem is trite and the structure is a mess."

"So you think because the poem isn't Pulitzer material, we don't have to worry? Wrong!"

"It's a logical assumption that the only reason I was mentioned is because of my notoriety."

"I don't care why they chose you - you're not safe."

She glared at him in the darkness of the SUV's cab then she smirked, "I thought you were the best of the best? How could I possibly be in danger?"

Resting a hand on his chest, he asked, "You want my protection?"

Brennan shrugged and then smiled.

Booth gripped the steering wheel with both hands and pulled his back up a little straighter, "Fine. I'll protect the hell out of you."

~~Opening Credits~~


	2. Chapter 2

Booth stood silently as Brennan and Zack examined the remains. Angela slid up to him, ever eager to share gossip. "Did you hear?"

Knowing he would regret baiting her, he still asked, "Did I hear what?"

"Bren's not seeing the good professor anymore. Any idea why?"

He cleared his throat, "Bones and I don't really talk about that stuff. But if I had to venture a guess, I'd say it was because she cleaned the floor with him in court. No man's ego could handle that."

"Hmm, that just doesn't ring true for me." She shot him an amused smile.

"Angela? When you're done socializing with Booth, I'd like you to take a look at the note that was left with the body. See if you can pull anything, type of paper, or maybe the ink." Brennan stood up straight and glared at the two off in the corner.

"Ooh, busted." Booth grinned at Angela as she walked away to fetch the note.

"Don't you have something to do?" Brennan asked Booth.

He shook his head, "Not until the other team calls to let me know what they found at the Lincoln Memorial. Besides, you wanted my protection, remember?"

She stepped toward him, "I didn't want your protection, Booth. I was simply stating that I felt that I wasn't in danger."

He raised his hand, pointing his finger at her, "Ah, but you felt that you were in no danger because you were with me. Therefore, I protect you."

"No, I felt that I was in no danger because-" Before she had the chance to finish her argument, Booth's phone rang to life. While he answered it, she walked back over to the body. "Hodgins, will you be able to identify the accelerant used?"

Hodgins nodded, "Shouldn't be a problem. I've also found a few other unidentifiable organic matter. I'll run it through the mass spec and let you know what I find."

"Thanks." Brennan looked back over to Booth, "What?"

He slid his phone back into his coat pocket, "They found another body."

"Burned?"

"Uh huh."

"Note?"

"Yup."

"Did it mention me?"

He shook his head once, "Not this time, Bones. This time they mentioned me."


	3. Chapter 3

When the partners arrived at the Lincoln memorial, they found the scene to be almost identical to the one from the Washington Monument.

"Again, male, Caucasian, 35-40 years old." Brennan observed the body closely while Booth took in the scene from a distance, trying to size up who they were dealing with.

"They never intended for us to get here in time. I'd bet even money that this guy was dead before we even got to the first body."

"Booth, you can't know that. We need to take the body back to the lab and-"

"And have all the eggheads confer – I know."

The off-handed insult was enough to remind Brennan that she was still angry at Booth for the methods he had used in court. She squatted down, turning her back to him.

"Here's it is..." She carefully pulled the paper out from underneath the body.

Booth stood over her shoulder as she read the message.

"Lincoln promised freedom throughout the land but no one controls a father's hand.

Sax and Violins seek to set things right by bringing evil into the light.

Agent Booth knows what a father should be although he never got his happy family.

Pink blossoms overlook where you'll find the next victim of our game,  
near the man who lent the museum his name."

"The Jeffersonian Memorial - man they really hate history. Let's go, Bones."

"Shouldn't you call dispatch? Have them check out the scene first?"

"It'll take too long and I'm assuming the next victim is already there and already dead – it's a pattern."

"Assumptions are a waste of time."

"Fine, you stay here with the bones and _I'll_ go." He hooked his fingers in his belt and bounced once on his tiptoes. He knew that she would never go for his suggestion.

"No! If you're going to go and there might be a body, I should be first on the scene." She stood up and quickly snapped her rubber gloves off.

Booth grinned, "This is getting too easy."

"Murder?"

"No, you." They started to walk back to the car, each taking the longest strides they were capable of – neither of them wanting to be the runner-up at their destination.

They simultaneously reached for their door latches but Brennan paused before getting in, "You think I'm easy?"

"Ah, no – I don't think anyone would ever accuse you of that." He hopped into the car and waited until she shut her door before continuing, "I just meant that it's getting easier and easier to get you to do what I want."

"I do not do whatever you want."

He pushed the key into the ignition and grinned, "All I have to do is push you in the opposite direction of what I want and then you end up on my side."

Brennan slumped against the door and huffed, "I hate psychology."


	4. Chapter 4

"Nothing. There's nothing here." Booth announced as he and Brennan paced around the Jefferson Monument.

"Could we have been wrong? Maybe they meant a different location?" Brennan furrowed her brow.

"I doubt it 'near the man who lent the museum his name' – where else would it be?"

Brennan considered this, "I suppose…Maybe they couldn't find another victim?"

"Why would they leave us a note saying there was another victim here?" Booth was growing more and more frustrated with his partner.

"To confuse us? To throw us off?"

Booth turned quickly, "Shhh, did you hear that?"

Brennan shook her head and then craned her neck toward the row of cherry trees that lined the perimeter of the monument. Then she heard a tree limb snap and she started off in that direction.

"Bones! You don't go running into a dark field!" Booth jogged to catch up to her, to get in front of her.

They came upon a dark mass on the ground. Brennan bent down, "Human, male…same as the others."

"Three bodies in one night, someone was busy." Booth jotted down her description in his notebook.

Brennan stood and pointed her flashlight up into the tree, "He was hanging here, but there's no evidence that there was a fire near the tree."

"They burned him somewhere else and then brought him here. These two are super-organized. This took discipline and a lot of planning." Booth walked the around the tree looking for anything out of place. "Bones, I need an evidence bag. There are about 10 cigarette butts here – could be from Sax or Violins."

Brennan rounded the tree and bagged the evidence. "We might be able to get DNA from these."

"That doesn't help if we have nothing to compare it to." Booth pulled out his phone to call the FBI forensics team.

Brennan didn't care that he was on the phone, she continued, "I know that but it's a clue, it's piece of the puzzle. You know that sometimes the smallest, most inconsequential evidence can help us solve the case."

"Bones! I am on the phone!" He stalked away but stayed within earshot of her.

Brennan bent down to examine the body and mumbled to herself, "Maybe _you_ need to learn to multi-task."


	5. Chapter 5

After recovering the third body and depositing it at the lab, Booth first urged Brennan to go home and get some sleep. After she argued with him for several minutes about the waste of time that would be and all the work she had to do, he gave in and let her stay at the Jeffersonian. His first thought was that her lack of sleep was no sweat off of his brow but he soon realized a tired Brennan was a cranky Brennan and he wasn't in the mood to track down a serial killer and tame a shrew at the same time.

Several more minutes were spent as they debated who needed to sleep more before Booth threw his hands up and headed into her office to sleep.

He slept close to 45 minutes on the couch in her office before wandering out to the forensic platform.

"Any thing new?"

Brennan looked up and glared at him, "I've been examining the first body of three for less than an hour - you know the time that you were sleeping. So, no there's nothing new."

"You know Bones, a few minutes of shut eye wouldn't hurt you either. It might actually help."

"Taking time away from the evidence seems counterproductive to me."

"Yeah, but you being all cranky and snippy seems counterproductive to me."

"Why are you even here? Go home. I'll call you with my findings." She spoke to him without looking at him.

He leaned against the railing of the platform, crossing his legs at the ankles. "You seem to forget there's that little thing about me 'protecting the hell out of you'. I'm not going anywhere you aren't until we catch these guys."

Brennan snapped her latex glove off her hand and reached for a file, "They mentioned you specifically, as well. Who's protecting you?"

"Oh, I don't need protection."

"Then neither do I. All things being equal."

Booth shook his head and chuckled under his breath, "I was trained by the United States government to protect myself and others. I fought in a _war_ where the safety of my men depended on my ability to stay focused and alert. You've what, taken a few Tae Kwon Do classes at the local YMCA?"

"This may come as a surprise to you considering your antiquated stance on the differences between men and women but I am more than capable of protecting myself."

"I don't have an antique anything when it comes to women. I work with you, don't I? The fact that you're a woman has nothing to do with this. But it does have to do with the fact that I carry a gun and you don't."

Brennan took a step closer to him, "I could if you hadn't rejected my application."

Not one to back down, he also took a step forward, "How long are you going to harp on that?"

She shook her head once, "As long as it takes for you to reevaluate my application and approve it."

"So forever...good to know, Bones." He turned on his heel and started to walk away.

"Where are you going?"

"If you're not going to use the couch in your office, I'm gonna."

She fixed her hands on her hips and grinned, "What if someone breaks in here and tries to hurt me?"

He tugged on his earlobe, "Sniper hearing - it'll be alright."

"What if they're super quiet, like ninjas?"

"Do you want the couch?" Booth asked, obviously exasperated by this woman, "Is that what this is about?"

Brennan shrugged, "It is _my_ office."

Booth sighed and fell onto a stool, "If you want to go to sleep, just say so. I don't care either way."

"You did say that it might help if I got some sleep." She muttered quietly.

"Oh, so now you listen to me after I've worn you out with my arguments."

She dropped the file she had been working on and stepped away from the exam table. Pulling her hair out of the ponytail it had been in all day, she looked at her partner and smiled, "One, I always listen to you, it's just that most of the time what you say doesn't really deserve a response and two, you did not wear me out with your arguments. For future reference, it takes immensely more that to tire me."

Booth watched her saunter toward her office and mumbled under his breath, "I will keep that in mind..."


End file.
